codebreaker
by wizz713
Summary: The herd has disapeared! Diego must find what has happened to them before it is to late! and whats more, a mystirious message with a strange code had apeared. Diego must reunite with old friends and make peace with old rivals to save his friends.
1. the code

**Another mystery! Diego is in trouble now. see if you code breakers can crack the code before he can!**

* * *

The herd slept peacfuly in their cave. it was nearly sunrise when a comotion was heard down the path. it aproached, but it grew quiet as it aproached. one of the herd was druged to sleep and the others baged up and carried away.

Diego awoke to find himself staring down, not at Shira, but at a note. he picked it up and read it. he was confused. This made no sense! It read:

_on twelfth ring,_

_when twice it sounds,_

_bright above,_

_glowing like stars._

_see its bright circle,_

_clear to your eyes._

_dose not burn the skies,_

_but once in thirty times._

_blood drops from heaven,_

_and bodies fall to Earth._

3 | 1,2,3 | 3 | | 1,2 | 0,2 | | 1,2 | 1,2 | | 1,2 | 1.5 | 2 | | 1,2,3 | | 1,2,3 | | | 1,2,3 | 1,2,3 | 0 | | | 4,5 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | | 0 | | | 1 | 1,2,3

2,3,4,5 | 3,4,5 | 4,5 | 4,5 | 5 | | | | 1,2,3 | 3 | | 0 | | | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | | 0

What was _that_?! Diego wondered as he woke up. then he noticed the herd was not there. Shira was not there! He ran out but saw no prints and smelt no scent. he began to panic. what was it with all these riddles! He thought furiously. Why could no one just say it in plain english! and now some sort of code! What kind of criminal was this!?

"Manny?! Ellie!? Sid!?" He shouted out into the empty morning air. there was no response. His heart sank. there was only one detective good enough to solve the case. Diego had not thought very highly of the man after all the mistakes he had made, but it, turned out that he had personal reasons to be distraught at the time. word had arived the day befor the first murder that his cousin, a very close friend to him, had disapeared.

His old 'friend' Police Sargent Eric Clinston.


	2. jail break

Diego slid silently across the ground as the lens of the spotlight focused around him. after a few seconds, it passed on. He approached the walls with caution and looked up. he could easily climb it, the even the tierdest, laziest, dumbest, and most unfocused guard in the world would see a cat climbing his wall. and Diego suspected that these guards were none of the above. He would have to think of another way in. He could always tunnel of course, but the cells probably had stone floors, so it would do him no good. He either had to go under or over the walls. but he could do neither. then a thought occurred:

why, he didn't have to climb the wall to get over it! he could climb an object taller than the wall in the surrounding area and leap over the wall! He spotted a nearby tree that he thought had decent cover to hide him.

He ran to it and climbed high as he could. there he saw the courtyard. It had patrols slowly walking around the perimeter in a way so that the whole courtyard was visible at once and all the patrols could be seen by at least one other patrol at all times.

so that left him with what? Nothing. he could see no way to get in as visitors were not allowed to bring sharp objects in and so the would want to dull his claws before letting him enter. only guard were allowed to bring in weapons. guards were allowed... Diego got an idea. If they thought he was a guard, they would let him in.

He leaped not over, but on top of the wall. there he crept in the shadows under the range of the lights. He crept up to the tower and up the stairs. there he saw two guards, both with their backs to him. he banged them both on the head and stole the uniform of the tiger.

He walked out into the courtyard as if he belonged there and walked straight into the holding cells' level. there, he realized he had a problem: he did not know what cell the Sargent was being held in. He decided to try something risky. He walked up to a guard and started talking:

"Hey! I'm new around here, but the captain told me to go check on Eric. Eric Clinston. Could you tell me where his cell is?"

"Sure." said the guard "Down in sector three. first cell on hallway nine. just go to your left at the next intersection."

Diego nodded and went as directed. there he saw a sign that read _sector three_. he walked in and took the ninth hallway. there, in cell one, was Eric Clinston. He was hardly recognizable in the prisoner's clothes. Diego was used to seeing him in his clean, grey suit.

the Sargent was asleep so Diego pulled out the key labeled sector three and put it in the lock. he opened the door and dragged the Sargent out. He was a heavy sleeper because, even as the yells of the guards echoed around the room, he slept on. Diego dragged him out as the guards realized what was happening. then, Diego realized his mistake: he had just backed out into the court-yard. all the guards stopped their march and stood in shock for a second at the sight before them. this was a quiet prison. they did not get much action and Diego used this to his advantage.

He dropped the Sargent and charged the neared group. they ran and he did not give chase. instead he threw open one of the boxes stacked in the corner they had been gaurding. it had rope! he pulled the rope out and grabbed Eric. Diego threw the rope over the wall and felt it pulling on him. his machine was working so far. he had thrown a box of metal over with it. it acted as a counter weight. he was pulled up and, as he had expected, the guards cut the rope. this was part of the plan of course. he had thrown another rope attached differently. this was attached to the roof and now, he swung over the wall and let go. they were free.

Eric really was a deep sleeper. He reflected. then he felt the man's pulse. there came a startling discovery: Police Sargent Eric Clinston, was dead.


	3. Fate

after 2 hours, Diego was stumped. This man was dead, that was sure, but he should not be dead.

He showed no sign of external damage. not the slightest sign of bruise or scratch was to be found. His airways were open and he had no signs of internal bleeding. Diego checked every bone in the man's body, and none were broken. He was still young, so he had not died of old age. and Diego saw none of the symptoms of any poison he had ever heard of.

except the fact that he was dead, there was nothing physically wrong with this man.

so, with nothing else to do, Diego sat down to think over the code.

3 | 1,2,3 | 3 | | 1,2 | 0,2 | | 1,2 | 1,2 | | 1,2 | 1.5 | 2 | | 1,2,3 | | 1,2,3 | | | 1,2,3 | 1,2,3 | 0 | | | 4,5 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | | 0 | | | 1 | 1,2,3

2,3,4,5 | 3,4,5 | 4,5 | 4,5 | 5 | | | | 1,2,3 | 3 | | 0 | | | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | | 0

It seemed just a random series of numbers. but it obviously meant something to the killer. unless he had just left it there to confuse him. but that seemed unlikely seeing as the killer would have had little time to work. then he realized something:

the two lines were separate. that was probably because they meant different things. were different parts of the message!

now what about that four line bar? it was the only one in the message. He noticed then that the numbers before it were higher than the other set. and, if you were to graph it, they would appear in ascending order. it would make half of an upside-down pyramid of sorts. this was a great discovery for him. he began to get tired so he sat down on the grass and slept.

Diego slept for 8 hours and he woke as the sunlight shone over the mountain tops. He sat up and stretched. then remembered his adventures and discoveries last night. he looked down at the code. or rather where the code used to be. it was not there. He jumped and began looking frantically around.

that code was his only way to find the herd!

"Looking for this?" said a voice behind him. Diego spun around snarling and then froze. his jaw dropped at the sight before him. It was the last thing he had expected.


	4. Discovered Danger

"Sargent!" Yelped Diego. "You're alive?! How?"

"What do you mean?" He asked. "Of course I'm alive. I must say though; I hadn't expected this warm of a welcome. I thought that you would be demanding how I got here. Whats happened?"

"There was a jail break." Diego explained. "At the prison you were sent to. I did it. I broke you out, but you were dead."

"Oh yes. That wasn't me. I escaped three days ago. I hired a decoy to take my place until I was able to escape the area. You must have found him. He's dead?"

"Yes, he's dead." Asked the Sargent throwing the message to Diego.

"That's the thing; I don't know. He shouldn't be dead. He has no injuries at all, and there's no sign of poison that I can see."

"Strange." Comented the former Sargent. " So what is this code you have?"

"I don't know that either. It's something to do with a kidnaping that took place three nights ago. The herd was kidnaped. This is the only clue I have as to what happened to them."

"Ah, so this is why you tried to break me out: to get help decoding this?"

"Yes. Can you help?"

"I certainly can. I've broken more codes than you have caught deer."

"I find that hard to believe." Diego replied.

"Well then, watch and learn." He said, gesturing for Diego to give him the code. Diego did as directed. The Sargent examined it for a minute. After he had examined it, he handed it back. "That is one tough code you,ve got there. But I can tell you one thing:With this kind of pattern of numbers, the numbers usually don't mean anything themselves. they mean something that means something. This is a very short message. And a very complex code. I need time to work on this."

"What about the riddle?"

"Hm." Said the Sargent, reading it aloud:

_"on twelfth ring,_

_when twice it sounds,_

_bright above,_

_glowing like stars._

_see its bright circle,_

_clear to your eyes._

_does not burn the skies,_

_but once in thirty times._

_blood drops from heaven"_

He read the riddle. "twelfth ring? Ring. Twelve rings. What twelve rings? Rings. and twice. so that's twenty-four rings. something is ringing twelve times twice. Bright above. glowing like stars? something above you. It glows, probably a celestial body. and circle. that certainly does not help us?! all natural satellites are circles! clear though. that may mean something. It can be seen, but not clearly or fully. and what's this? thirty times? once in thirty times. thirty... I've got it! thirty times! thirty chances. once in thirty chances to fulfil the rest of the description! The moon! the full moon! It happens once every thirty days!"

Diego was truly amazed, because in five minutes, this man had solved what he could not in three days. "Good job Sargent. So what now?"

"Now we need to lay low. We're both wanted men. and not just by the police. I suspect the kidnappers will want us dead too. We need to go somewhere were no one will discover us hiding.

So they left. They were both carefull to cover up their tracks. Until they came to a quiet, out off the way corner of the known land mass here, and set up camp. It was really more of a base of operations than home. They had the pieces of the code that they had figured out written down and stashed there. it held enough food to last a few months stored up in it, and it had the best defensive system the two of them could rig guarding it. there was two entrances. one however was extremely well hidden. no one could get in without their permission.

It was locked up tight at all times. they were afraid that the kidnappers might send an assassin to kill them. there were defences on all approaches to the territory as well. those could be easily detected and avoided if some one knew to look for traps. But the base it self was not so easy to breach. they never left the territory for any reason, until they made a big discovery.


	5. Solving the mystery

Diego was walking alone, pondering the coded message, when he stumbled on a branch siting out in the middle of the path. This caused a good deal of surprize, then fear. This territory had been mapped out to a centimeter. And there were no trees nearby from which an empty space belonging to a fallen branch could be conjured. The fear came from the paranoia, perhaps not paranoia, that this had been left here by the kidnappers. He inspected it carefully.

It was suspiciously devoid of all scent. But it seemed it was hooked to no fatal machine. He lifted it, parallel, two centimeters off the ground and peered under it. There was nothing odd at first glance, but then he noticed tiny marks on the bottom. He carefully set it down and flipped it over. it read:

1.5 | 1,2 | | 2 | | 1 | 1,2,3 | | 1,2 | 2 | | | 1,2 | 1 | | 1 | | 0 | | 1,2,3 | | 0 | | | 1,2,3 | | 0 ||| 1,2 | 1 | | 1 | 1,2,3 ||| 5 | 5 | | | | -1,0,1 | 1 | | 0  
||| 1,2 | 1 | | 1 | 1,2,3 ||| 5 | |

_Great; another code. _thought Diego So he carefully picked up the branch, still wary of traps, and carried it to the base. there he met Eric.

Diego dropped the branch at the Sargent's feet. The Sargent looked down at it and frowned.

"What?" Asked Diego.

"This code, It's beginning to make sense. You see the absolute value symbols?"

"What?"

"Oh, right, you didn't attend school. absolute value, it means turn a number into its absolute value. like, |-7| = 7. It's the distance of that number from 0. an absolute value is symbolized by two bars ( | | ) with a number between them."

"Alright, what about them?"

"I first thought that they meant absolute value, but now, see these ones with no spaces between?" He asked, indicating the |||'s. "Those don't mean anything as absolute value symbols. So I don't think they were meant as absolute value."

"Then what are they?"

"I think that they were meant as lines. Verticle lines. To separate something. Lets have a look at that code:

3 | 1,2,3 | 3 | | 1,2 | 0,2 | | 1,2 | 1,2 | | 1,2 | 1.5 | 2 | | 1,2,3 | | 1,2,3 | | | 1,2,3 | 1,2,3 | 0 | | | 4,5 | 5 | | | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | | 0 | | | 1 | 1,2,3

2,3,4,5 | 3,4,5 | 4,5 | 4,5 | 5 | | | | 1,2,3 | 3 | | 0 | | | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | | 0 "

He recited. "So it would be 3 space 1 comma 2 comma three comma space three space space. (3 | 1,2,3 | 3 | |) But that still doesn't mean anything. Unless..."

"What?" Diego demanded, "What have figured out?"

The Sargent smiled at him. "I figured it out."


	6. Decoding, step 1

**I intended to use periods first. but the site won't let me do more t han one space at a time, so I had to use 1's and 0's so it says 500 words, but it's really short. Sorry for my absence, I was on vacation and needed a little time with my family., so to make up for that, I wrote you another chapter for each of my uncompleted stories and added a new one! have fun!**

* * *

"What! What is it?" Diego asked**.**

"This isn't numbers at all! well, it is, but that's not what it means. Its all been a trick! We were looking for the wrong thing all along! We thought that the numbers meant something. Come here." He said, beckoning to a sandy place on the floor. Diego approached. "Like this:" Said the Sargent, drawing a diagram. it read:

0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | | 1 | 1 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | | 1 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0  
1 | 1 | 1 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 1 | | 0 | 0 | | | 1 | 1 | | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | 0 | 1 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 1 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 1 | 0 | | 1 | 0 | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | | 1 | 0 | | | 1 | 1 | | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | 0 | | | 0 | 1 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 1 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 1 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 1 | 0 | | 1 | 0 | 0 | | 1 | 1 | | 1 | 0 | | 1 | | 1 | 0 | | | 1 | 1 | | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | | | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | 0 | | | 1 | 1 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | | 0 | 0 | | 1 | | | | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 1 | | | 0 | 0 | | 1

1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0  
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0  
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | 1 | 1 | | 0 | | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0  
1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | 1 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | 1 | 0 | | 0 | | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0  
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | | 0 | 0 | | 1 | | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 1

"And?" asked Diego.

"_And_ this is the answer to all the riddles!"

"But what does it mean?"

"That, I have no idea." the Sargent told him.

"So how does this help us then? and how did you figure all of this out?"

"We are a step closer to finding the answer, my friend. This _is _the answer."

"And you know this, how?"

"The branch. The branch was the key."


End file.
